Jaimito Cartero

Well, I had to come up with something of an average. On an average year, I'd say that I do 20-30 changes and deposits. This last year, and the growing burn your miles mantra, I've probably done double that. Putting my averages up there certainly wouldn't be the norm.

Thanks for checking the facts out.

Jaimito Cartero

I have corrected the 50% error listed on one flyer. I'm also thinking of doing one flyer with the email addresses of top brass. If you have any *factual* knowledge that the top brass uses the [email protected] or dl.com, I'd appreciate a PM or a post! I also wouldn't turn down phone numbers that are confirmed.

Grab them, and print them out! Let NW/DL know how you feel, and make sure everyone else knows as well.

PDF File - All three flyers. Change Fees, Close In Fees, and Timmy.

First Flyer - Elite reward change fees. PDF.

Second Flyer - Close in fees. PDF

Third Flyer - Timmy - Three Tier Award Chart. PDF

You can still view the JPG pictures here.

I have no problem if the Mod's want to separate this thread.

pragakhan

http://verify-email.org/

Jaimito Cartero

Thanks. The only problem is that both NWA and DL have a "catch-all" email address, so you can type almost anything in as the first part, and it'll say it's valid.

pragakhan

Booo!

Jaimito Cartero

Here's the latest and greatest. With email addresses.

MikeMpls

I've also added these links to The Blog (near top of left pane).

MikeMpls

This one is great!

Also added it to the links in The Blog.

Jaimito Cartero

I added one final one, and that I think, is going to be the end of my productions.

It's listed in the group PDF (nwa3flyers.pdf), which is actually 5 now. I've got to get some work done now!

raehl311

Wait, who said they were redepositing/changing their award travel 20-30 times a year? Are you kidding?

I hate to be the voice of reason, but 20-30 times a year sounds a bit ridiculous. Maybe you might try not booking your award travel until you have some modicum of certainty that you ACTUALLY want to travel on those dates.

So I'd be fine with just the change fees.

But the change fees *AND* the close-in-booking fees are absolute bunk. One or the other.

Jaimito Cartero

<Raises hand>

That would be me. In an average year, I earn 400k miles. Two other family members earn 50-150k per year. I primarily use my miles for family members. Since awards are rarely a perfect fit, I book a trip if one way of the trip is acceptable. This in particular is valid when you're booking at the limit (330 days for many partners, or 352 days for NW metal).

So, I want a flight for my daughter to come for Thanksgiving. I book the outbound trip at 329 or 330, and book the next day return (International trip). There is no way to ensure that the outbound trip will still be there, unless I lock it in. So, a few days later when the return open up, I then change it to the correct return date.

Have you tried booking a complicated award somewhere? If you have, then you know that it's so hard to find FC/Biz class to many parts of Europe and Asia. You grab what's available at saver levels, and then tweak it later.

I'd love not to have to keep an eye on all my awards, and call up NW once or twice a month to see if something has opened up. I think only about 20% of all the awards that I book are "good to go".

Also, if a revenue ticket opens up on the right date at a reasonable rate, I'll book that. That's bringing the airline even more income. That won't be happening with NW this year.

I would accept a rationing of redeposit or change fees if it was logical (say 8-10 for plats, 4-6 Gold, 2-4 Silver, 1-2 for base members), and they released awards further out, and not 3 days-2 months like they sometime do. Changing/redepositing awards months in advance does not cost them any lost passenger flights.

rtarbuck

I too, have made changes in award trips on several occasions.

The most recent one was two days after I set up my itinerary. The exact date and return flight were still booked--but at 12,5000 miles less.

This would have resulted in the $100 charge in the new system.

The big problem is that NW IT technology does not allow for changes without redepositing your miles. If their software allowed changes to an itinerary without having to redeposit this "rule" would be a whole lot easier to tolerate.

The award reservation I canceled prior to that resulted because I decided to buy a $1200 revenue ticket instead of using my points and to earn miles. I'm sure NW was more than happy to take my $1200 rather than fly me free.

The ability to change or cancel award reservations was the most important PE perk that existed for me.

I do NOT believe that 10% of Plats award reservations were canceled after an itinerary started. That's got to be total BS. I don't know of anyone who has or would have any reason to.

What are they going to take away next?

fti

I am afraid I might get kicked out of the WC or off the plane tomorrow as I begin handing out some of these flyers.

Thanks for all the work. The PDF files print much better than the original ones (at least on my printer).

Had a long conversation today with a wonderful woman at the PE phone desk. She said she has a form she completes every time someone calls in and complains about the changes. Actually I was calling to look for award seats but the conversation turned to the fees as well.

Jaimito Cartero

Yes, the PDF is much nicer. I just wanted to put something up at first so people could see it. Now that Mike and Jon are helping with some bandwith, it's easy to post the PDFs there.

Make sure you get the latest version, which now has 5 pages. Including a correction to one earlier page.

seoulmanjr

Just make sure to get a souvenir coffee mug before you leave the WC.

I don't see how you'd do it on the plane... If you're walking up and down the aisles distributing leaflets, they're going to boot you (and rightfully -- nobody wants leaflet solicitations in-flight from strangers). I would recommend that you stand halfway down the jetway after arrival and hand them out to passengers as they deplane. At that point, you are where you're going anyway.

peace,
~Ben~